calamus

Meaning

1. The sweet flag, Acorus calamus.
2. A quill; the hard, horny, hollow, and more or less transparent part of the stem or scape of a feather.
3. A fish of genus Calamus in family Sparidae; certain porgies.
4. A palm in genus Calamus, of rattan palms.
5. Synonym of fistula (“tube for sucking Eucharist wine”).

Synonyms

sweet flag

quill

flagroot

myrtle flag

shaft

sweet calamus

Acorus calamus

sweet-flag

fishbone

acorus aclamus

flag

iris

rattan

ray

rattan palm

Anemone altaica fischer

rhizoma calami

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin calamus (“reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Doublet of calame, culm, haulm, helm (Etymology 4), qalam, and shawm.